Lucky Stars
by Princess Santa Clause
Summary: Kiyowa Shinzo, a young girl in the Ninja Academy, was no exception to the rule: She was a complete fangirl for Sasuke Uchiha. But after being paired in the same squad with both he, his rival, and a rival of her own, will tensions rise? Will her feelings for him grow, or will they fade away as she matures? Or even more important, what of their teamwork! Find out! Read and Review
1. Chapter 1: Preparations

Chapter 1: Preparations

**Disclaimer: :C I don't own Naruto.. If I did.. The entire Akatsuki would still be aliiiiveeeee T_T**

"Good morning, Sensei," Said a fair-haired adolescent. Her flaxen locks were contained in a loose, low ponytail that allowed her slack curls to run gently across her mid-back. Her head was tilted slightly to the side, catching the light of the light rayed sun through the window, and simply emitting a look of utter radiance. The sensei, who went by the name of Iruka Umino, glanced up from his desk, which held mountains of neatly organized paperwork, and returned the half smile she gave. It was hard not to smile along with her, after all. It was as if she radiated a feeling of cheerfulness and optimism that proved to be greatly contagious.

"Good morning, Kiyowa."

The warm tone taken by Iruka sent a small smile to Kiyowa's lips and a faint hue of red-pink over her cheeks. As force of habit, the young girl's hand, which at this point in time was covered by the sleeve of her outsized sweater, lifted up to cover her mouth. She had always enjoyed speaking to her sensei, but she only wished she would have more to say. Kiyowa's timid nature had always been a difficult element of her character for her to adjust to, even though she carried it throughout her entire life to date.

After the brief exchange of words, Kiyowa turned her head to the floor, an action that reversed Iruka's smile into a deep frown that was accompanied by a soft sigh, and she turned toward the nearly empty classroom. Her punctuality was to blame for the lack of people. She believed that showing up early was important, and so she did so whenever she could. Slowly, the blonde haired girl's Jade-green gaze shifted almost unnoticeably so to a dark haired male located to her right.

Sasuke Uchiha.

She remembered him from years ago. Of many shapes, sizes, colors, and personalities, that Uchiha male always had many of girls that chased after him… Unfortunately, Kiyowa was one of them. While she did not do nearly the number of things the other girls did, like argue over him, buy him things, and such, she did have a heavy crush on him, yet could not diagnose just why exactly. Kiyowa also would never do anything about her feelings, so she mentally decreed, for she had not the confidence in herself. Many times, the young girl would debate on speaking with Sasuke; her thoughts of doing so were usually shut down quickly by another female that seemed more raring to go.

Her looking began to become more obvious to any that took time to observe Kiyowa and her thoughts and daze became far deeper. She thought of herself now, not Sasuke, just she and other girls that threw themselves at him. They were all so thin. Their hair was far longer than hers ever was. They had better taste in clothes, that's for sure… not to mention they all had boundless confidence in themselves. She, on the other hand, was thin, but not as much as they. Her hair reached a few inches above the small of her back, and though she always tried to grow it, it seemed that her hair just wasn't letting her have her way. As for her clothes, she always saw a pair of shorts and an oversized hoody was the perfect outfit for any occasion, and as for confidence…well she hardly had any. How could they possibly even acknowledge her, let alone see her as any kind of competition.

Kiyowa finally managed to grasp back onto reality just at the point in time a pair of dark colored eyes met hers. Her heart skipped three beats, her face twisted into the deepest shade of cherry, and her gaze quickly retreated to the floorboards beneath her feet. Shuffling her feet quickly across the floor, she made her way to the back of the room, sitting down in the seat near the window in the absolute last row where she would begin to unnervingly lock, intertwine, shift, and wriggle her fingers together. _'H-He caught me looking…' _Thought the young girl in fair dismay. Quickly, her sleeved hands rose up to her face so that she could then proceed to bury herself into them. How embarrassing…

The dusky haired boy had quirked a brow. He wondered what the staring he had received was for, or what it could possibly mean, until his eyes immediately shone with disinterest. Another girl that wanted to throw her heart at him, right? Just another annoyance. Leaning his head onto his intertwined fingers, the Uchiha boy turned his attention back out of the window at his left.

It was still quiet and incredibly peaceful in the classroom with only a few people entering here and there. It was apparently too early in the morning for everyone to be as up and around as they usually were, as most of the entering students returned to slumber with their head placed promptly on the tops of their desks. Taking advantage of this quietness, Iruka slipped out from the classroom. He was likely going to go over a few of the procedures for the assigning of squads today. The assigning of squads. This was also something weighing heavily on young Kiyowa's mind. Students were to be paired up into groups of three, as Iruka said, and assigned to a Jounin sensei to further their training as Genin. It was electrifying to think that so many people from this class were all moving up so quickly, but it was also a sign that anxiety was to be running high for some.

Just as Kiyowa had managed to calm down and rest her head against her arms, a loud hammer accompanied by many shouts of displeasure filled the room as well as the hallway. The blonde haired girl shot up from her chair and whirled around to face the entrance of the classroom. Sakura and Ino had barged in and were currently huffing and puffing in an attempt to catch their breath from what she assumed to be a race to class. "Oh boy…" Murmured the girl softly, almost inaudibly, to herself. These were two of the girls that had always chased after Sasuke, and she found herself horridly uncomfortable around them although there were many others that fit under the category of "Sasuke's fangirls". She kept watching them, being that she wasn't going to be able to sleep with all of the ruckus that just suddenly appeared, and to be honest, she found the two rivals to be incredibly amusing during their little power-struggles. Then she noticed something. A look if you will.

This was not just a simple look that Sakura carried, it was one that was easily recognized by Kiyowa, and one that made her draw her attention away with a feeling of being inadequate. She heard the footsteps thump passed her on the old wood floorboards, and she felt herself shrinking with each step.

"S-Sasuke-kun? I noticed the seat next to you was open…and well...can I sit next to you?"

By now, she felt around three inches tall. Even if the pinkette stumbled and fumbled with her words ever so slightly, Sakura had the amazing courage and pride in herself to ask to sit with him… That was further than she could ever hope to get. It was difficult to not have the inner-strength to do something about feelings that paddled around inside of her then have to deal with listening to and watching attempt after attempt from other girls. To be honest, Kiyowa even thought Sakura to get somewhere with her question. That was until:

"Back off, Sakura! I sit next to Sasuke-kun!" Ino hissed to Sakura under her breath. The two began to mutter and argue to one another in soft yet stern tones, each one appearing to want the vacant spot next to their precious Sasuke-kun. Soon enough almost all of the females in the classroom were in on it, snapping at one another. The snapping soon turned to shouting and the shouting to all out screaming sprees. Burying her head in her arms, Kiyowa cringed. All of this was giving her one massive headache… Suddenly, everything went quiet. She tugged her sleeve down just enough to allow her right eye vision. The sound of coughing, hacking, and….spitting… however finally made her rise up once more. All she could really see was that Naruto had his hands full with a lot of angry girls. What about, she wasn't sure.

"Settle down and return to your seats, class."

Everyone turned up to Iruka, wondering the same thing Kiyowa was likely, which was '_when did Iruka-sensei get back?' _

"I'm all set to read off the squads."

_**A/N: **_**Ohhkay guise! Hope you enjoyed this first chapter! I'm scribbling away at this fanfic, being it's the first one that's really had be interested in a long time, so I hope you'll like it too! :DD Love you guys! Now read & review for meh, babeh.**


	2. Chapter 2: The Reading Of the Squads!

Chapter 2: Tensions Arise! : The Reading of the Squads!

**Disclaimer: :s I don't own Naruto. But you already knew that, didn't you? xD**

Everyone was now back at their seats and sitting on edge. All but a few exceptions were undergoing their nervous ticks. From years of going without speaking and only observing, Kiyowa had managed to pick up a few of them. Sakura's nervous tick was her repeating. Whenever something was going on that made her nervous or feel intimidated, the first thing she would do was repeat words that were just said by another, namely one that usually relays the news of an event. Naruto's was his muttering. He would always mutter to himself as if he were telling himself to pull himself together, or giving himself a pep talk under his breath. This time, however, Naruto was laying his head on his arm, twitching at the sore spots after his latest beat down. Sasuke… even after so long of specifically setting her sights on him, Kiyowa had failed to find any sort of nervous actions he performed. It was like he was perfect under pressure… She quickly shook her head, trying to pull her mind out of its trance.

"Squad Seven."

Kiyowa's mouth fell agape, "Gah!" '_I can't believe I missed the reading of the other six squads! What if I missed my name!?' _

"And Kiyowa Shinzo."

The flaxen haired female looked up from her mental self-bashing and glanced up. Her nerves popped, jumped, and raced all over the place, heart racing in tune with them. Now who was in her squad..? She looked around the room, attempting to grab a hint. All she could notice was that there were large masses of girls in the room directing a heavy glare toward Sakura... but what would that have to do with her?

"And we are now dismissed for lunch."

Kiyowa rose from her seat, tilting her head and glancing around for a little help. It was then that a finger gently tapped her shoulder, causing her to turn around in curiosity, "H-Huh?"

It was Hinata.

This was a big surprise considering Hinata rarely was seen speaking to others. It caused Kiyowa to really wonder what she needed from her.

"I n-noticed… Well.. You're squad um.. You seemed.. shocked and…a-and I.. Well.. S-Sakura-chan is in your squad.."

It was incredibly difficult to catch the gist of the sentence, but eventually Kiyowa was able to catch on to the fact that Hinata had noticed she hadn't found who was in her squad, and so attempted to assist her.

Kiyowa smiled lightly, feeling content in the fact that among all of her classmates whom she had never spoken to, she could find a friend in Hinata, "Arigatou, Hinata-chan."

The dark haired girl gave a quick nod then backed up slightly, turning to walk hesitantly toward her own squad.

Kiyowa's face was depicting utter sadness. It would seem as though she was one of the only people in the entire graduating class that did not eat lunch with her squad. Mainly because she couldn't find any of them… What a ninja she was turning out to be.

Even though hours had passed since then, it still stuck to the corner of her brain. She would attempt to drag something else into her mind, but her failure at becoming social with her squad members had hit a brick wall would recur. Her thoughts were suddenly broken off by Naruto's voice,

"Well this is what he gets for being late!"

Kiyowa turned her head to see Sasuke and Sakura were both turning their gazes up to Naruto, who was sticking an eraser atop the door to the classroom. It was not likely that anyone else would get caught up in the little stunt he was pulling considering the rest of the graduating class had departed with their senseis, and Iruka had decided to bail on them as well, but the pink and ebony haired shinobi still made a big deal out of it.

"Naruto! I really don't think you should do this. Don't be a baka!" Sakura scolded.

Kiyowa glanced over and acknowledged her hesitance. Obviously on the outside she was telling him to stop, but Kiyowa could tell that she was secretly enjoying this. Sasuke on the other hand, quiet as always aside from his 'words of wisdom', "She's right, dobe. Our sensei is supposed to be a Jounin. There's no way he'll fall for that."

The blonde haired girl nodded her head in agreement with his statement, although she couldn't help but wonder if it would work. It had a chance, after all, ninja of even a high level could make a careless mistake here or there. Something tugged inwardly at Kiyowa though. She could not exactly explain what, nor did she know what exactly it was herself. She just felt something. It was like a force that jumbled the butterflies in her stomach and gave her a nervous feeling. She turned her head over to the door and she could just feel that whatever it was, was on the other side of that door. "Hm.." She hummed to herself in thought, watching the door. Her breaths began to shorten and heart began to race, but she was unsure why. It wasn't noticeable, so the others had nothing to say about her reaction, nor any questions to ask. Abruptly, the door creaked open, and it felt like the same force that sent Kiyowa's insides on a rampage was about to walk through that door.

The eraser lodged between the tops of the doors wiggled free upon their opening and it fell through the cracks and onto a full head of oddly arrayed silver hair. At that time, whatever uneasy, heart racing feeling that had been sending Kiyowa into a strange state up and disappeared. She was just overcome with a strong feeling of disbelief, "I can't believe… it actually worked."

"Hahah! I know, right!" Naruto laughed loudly, holding his gut while doubling over to rest his other hand on his knee, "Oh man!"

With a wide eyed expression, Kiyowa looked at Naruto then down to her lap. She couldn't believe it. Did she jus... interact with them? Without feeling terrified out of her wits? A small smile spread over her lips and she couldn't help but feel a sense of happiness.

"KYAH. IT ACTUALLY-" Sakura raised a brow then pulled herself together quickly, having a humbled demeanor, "Ah… I'm sorry. I told him not to."

Sasuke's eye just noticeably twitched, likely with disappointment and disbelief. Kiyowa could only guess that he was maybe disappointed more so in their 'sensei' than in Naruto, and that he probably believed the silver haired Jounin should have been able to dodge that with ease, or at least sense that it was there to avoid it altogether.

"Ah, yes. My first impression of you all," The man spoke with a carefree attitude that seemed almost indifferent. Scratch that. It sounded _highly _indifferent.

Kiyowa stiffened. First impressions are everything, and after the stunt Naruto had pulled, who knows what his first impression of them was. '_He probably thinks we're a bunch of-'_

"You're all a bunch of idiots."

_**+Boom+**_

Kiyowa's head and face area had forcefully collided with the table in front of her. '_How did I guess?'_ She thought ruefully to herself, not realizing until afterwards that the room had gone silent.

"Uh.. You okay?"

Kiyowa sat up at Naruto's question and placed the back of her hand, which was covered by the sleeve of her large blue sweater, over her the reddened mark that had appeared on her forehead, "Uh.. Y-Yes. No worries," That's what she said out loud anyway. On the inside it sounded a little more like… '_OWWIE OW. WHAT ON EARTH WAS I THINKING?'_

Sasuke scoffed, muttering something incoherent under his breath and shaking his head before turning back in the silver haired man's general direction.

In response, Kiyowa lowered her hands to fold together tightly in her lap and looked down at them with a flustered face. She felt like an idiot... Slowly she receded back into her shell.

**A/N: Heyyooo. So I noticed this story got some negative reviews. (;n;" Pretty quick too..) (Btw, thank you for the positive review, 211boyfriend.) I don't mind negativity, but at least add justification so that it can be considered constructive criticism, mkay? Thankssss so much~ Anyway, hope you enjoyed this chapter, although we're getting the basics and buildups to the storyline in here still –since this story does indeed follow storyline-, things will start to pick up in a couple chapters, so I hope you stick with me til then! *Gives all my lovely readers ice cream, because cookies are too mainstream xD***


	3. Chapter 3: Introductions & Instructions!

Chapter 3: RoofTop Confessionary! Introductions and instructions!

The team sat up on the rooftop of the academy, sitting on the stairs while awaiting further instruction from their new Sensei. The seating order was as follows: Sasuke, Sakura, Naruto, and then Kiyowa. While Sakura had once again taken initiative to seat herself next to the raven haired boy, Kiyowa couldn't bear to even try it. She would probably get the strangest looks, or simply find herself unable to function like she would away from him. He distracted her too much, and that was a fact.

"Mm.. Alright, then. I think it's time we begin introductions."

"Introductions?" Repeated the pink haired girl, tilting her head to the side while questioning the male. He glanced blankly at her for a moment, then nodded his head, "Correct. Introductions. I'd like to know: What's your name? What are your likes, dislikes, dreams for the future, things like that."

Sakura seemed to process what information she had been fed, and then turned up to him, "Well, sensei, how about you go first? You could be our example."

"Ah, alright. Well, my name is Kakashi Hatake," He began.

Kiyowa nodded furiously, being overly delighted that she had finally learned the name of their sensei so that she would no longer have to mentally refer to him as the awkward name she had given him, which was somewhere along the lines of 'Silver hair Mask man'.

"Hmm. Likes. I don't feel like telling you that. Dislikes, don't feel like telling you that either. Dreams for the future? .. Well I never thought about it."

The mouths of Naruto and Sakura dropped until they smacked the ground below. They were obviously less than satisfied with the information given. Sasuke twitched once again, showing his displeasure as well. All he had really told them was his name, but to Kiyowa, that seemed to be enough. She personally seemed delighted with the lack of information, for it meant that just like any other mystery, she would have the opportunity to solve it.

"Hmm? Who's next. How about we start with you and go down," Kakashi said, pointing to Kiyowa.

"Wait, Kakashi-sensei! I wanna go first!" Naruto shouted. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki! I love Ramen! All kinds of Ramen, especially Ichiraku Ramen! They're the best! I hate the three minutes you have to wait for the ramen to cook, and my dream is to be Hokage!"

'_Well he's Hyperactive.. that's for sure. What a big dream, especially compared to the other information he gave."_

Kakashi shook his head lightly then turned toward Sakura, "I guess you're next."

"Uhm.. I'm Sakura Haruno.. I like…" She turned her gaze toward Sasuke and a heavy blush came over her cheeks. "My goals for the future.. um.." Once again her eyes were directed in the Uchiha's direction and it would seemed as though her face grew even more red if that was possible. "Oh! And I hate Naruto!"

"GAH! SAKURA-CHANNN!" The Uzumaki Whined.

Kiyowa turned her head to the side, feeling the burden of inferiority strike her once again like a ton of bricks.

'_Teenage girl thoughts. It seems she's more interested in boys than ninja training…'_

Kakashi and the others turned their gaze to Sasuke who met their eyes with his own apathetic ones, "You're up."

"My name is Sasuke Uchiha.." He had a hardened expression that seemed to grow even darker by the passing moment. Kiyowa could feel her hands start to shake just by looking at it. It was as if there was a similar force as earlier that was causing her pain now more so the butterflies she experienced earlier. It was terrifying. "I hate a lot of things, and I like nothing in particular… And my dream for the future is not a dream, because I **will** make it a reality. I'm going to kill a certain someone."

Naruto gulped, shaking as well, but Kiyowa could feel her knees knock together and arms jitter and shake from top to bottom while her entire body gained uncontrollable chills.

'_Revenge driven..' _Kakashi knew something about that, something that he didn't show, and obviously wasn't intending to lead on anything he knew. He moved his back from the rail on which he was leaning and placed his gloved on the back of his neck, "Well, if that's all of the intr-"

"No wait! Kakashi-sensei, you forgot about her!" Naruto shouted, pointing his finger in Kiyowa's direction, who was just beginning to recover from the excruciating pain brought about from Sasuke's dark episode.

"Hmm? I Guess I did. Well then," He looked in Kiyowa's direction then lifted his free hand, twitching his fingers up from his palm in a shooing or 'go on' gesture, "Go ahead."

The blonde haired girl drew back in shock, gaping ever so slightly. She hadn't seen that coming, and she wished she had just been forgotten about…, but how exactly would she say that? She just decided that she would suck it up and do it anyway. "Um.."

Sakura, Naruto, and even Sasuke looked rather intently. Kiyowa didn't speak often, not even in the academy, and so it was a rare occasion to hear her talk as much as she had today, not to mention right now there was nothing to distract them, unfortunately for her.

"Well... My name is Kiyowa. Shinzo…"

Her voice was soft, but smooth, comparable to a Hummingbird of sorts. Soft wing beats that gave off a sweet melody if one were to listen close enough, "I like… Well I've always liked puzzles and mysteries."

'_One that actually likes to think? Promising.'_ Kakashi thought to himself. He would be mentally documenting comments to everyone's introductions in an attempt to get a proactive start on teaching and try to find the best ways to train and balance the team.

"I dislike competition…"

'_But she's not competitive. That means things like contests during training sessions to get a sort of motivation out of them won't work with her. Hmm… There goes training plan one..'_

"Dreams for the future… Well. I haven't thought much about it…" She looked down in her lap while speaking her next words, lips trembling with nervousness and feet fidgeting together as if she were terrified of being judged by her peers, "but if I have to… I want to be a great ninja…so that I can make my mother and father proud of me."

Naruto stiffened somewhat in reply to her words, as if he had grown tense from a sort of trigger word in her last sentence. He turned to her, expression somewhat softened and lips pursed into a thin, uncharacteristically serious line. Sakura seemed a little surprised at first, blinking a few times in partial shock before giving a partial smile. It would seem all four of the spectators had grown silent and looked to her in silent support. In fact, Kiyowa had yet to notice until she gave a hasty glance up to see if anyone was giving her strange looks. When she noticed that they seemed to empathize with her, she even had to do a double take for a second before looking up completely, astonishment clear.

Kakashi was the first to put an end to the moment with a clearing of his throat. The four students turned to him and awaited words they anticipated would be coming soon, although Kiyowa seemed to have a bit of an awkward feel enveloping her.

"Tomorrow team, first thing in the morning you will report to the third's training grounds just outside the Leaf Village."

Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement, "TRAINING!"

"Calm down, I haven't finished yet. Be there at 7am with your ninja gear," He turned to the railing as if about to leap away when he paused, turning only his head to face them once again, "Oh. I almost forgot. Bring a lunch, but don't eat breakfast."

The four looked at him, confused and in disbelief.

"Don't eat breakfast?" Naruto shouted with discontent, "Whaddaya mean don't eat breakfast?!"

"I just advice you not to. If you do, you _**will**_ throw up."

Kiyowa, Sakura, and Naruto visually showed their shock, mouths falling ajar for the fourth or fifth time that day.

'_T-Throw it up?' _Warily thought Kiyowa, gulping down the heavy lump that had risen in her throat. What kind of intense training would he be putting them through tomorrow?

"H-HEY WAIT! KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Sakura shouted, but upon turning to where the male had gone, there was nothing.

He had vanished.

**A/N: Ohhhkay dokey! That was Chapter 3, still in buildup, but training is coming soon, so that should be pretty interesting xD. Read and Review, tell me whatcha think! Mkay baihh~.**


	4. Chapter 4: LUNCH OR DEATH!

Chapter 4: No Food? Give Me Lunch, Or Give Me Death!

**Disclaimer: c: I don't own Naruto… If I did, Hanabi would have a little extra screen time.**

Kiyowa dragged herself through the village early that morning, her stomach growling and demanding for even the tiniest morsel, but she had obediently denied it, as her new sensei had instructed. She felt weaker than normal. Maybe it was her willpower, as the streets were littered with delicious smells of everyone else settling down to delicious breakfasts. Of course Kiyowa's compound had to be near that of the Akimichi's, and so she shivered with every step, because of the heavy smell of such a delectable meal.

"Ughhh… Kakashi-sensei wants us dead.." She muttered lightly to herself, gripping her stomach through the thick, baggy material of her sweater. She picked her gaze up from the ground and looked reluctantly up just in time to see the raven haired male turn the corner in front of her. Immediately her stomach came second on her list of priorities, and Kiyowa perked up, speeding up just a tad. She walked beside him, at a safe distance of course, and locked her fingers tightly together under the cover of her overlapping sleeves. She wanted to say something. She really really wanted to say something, but it was as if her throat went dry. Maybe it was the voice of her stomach, or maybe even her conscience, but one of them didn't want her to say a word it seemed.

Sasuke glanced over to the fair haired girl, quirking a brow. She was unusual. By now, a fangirl of his would have chirped a quirky hello, or at least some form of greeting, but it seemed she was more focused on the path she walked. For a moment while he observed her, she seemed pale as a ghost, unhealthily so, but abruptly, bursts of color splattered along her cheeks. She was blushing. He was set to roll his eyes and resume the ignoring of her existence, but she separated her interlocking sleeves just then, raising her hand up to show the tip of her index finger as if she were going to say something.

Unfortunately, her words were almost instantly cut off by the audible sound of a demanding appetite. "…." Even more color shone through her cheeks. She was so embarrassed. What could be more awkward than a stomach rumbling that loud? She lowered her hand slowly, all words she had –or at least as much as she had gathered- immediately disappearing from her vocabulary.

Sasuke snorted, shocking the young girl. He found this humorous? She uneasily looked over to him, doing her best to peer subtly, as not to arouse his attention.

"You do know you have to last through the training session without food, right? And you're already hungry," He did not say this to brag, but to inform, yet it sounded as though he carried a venomous sarcasm on the tip of his tongue.

Kiyowa briskly returned her attention down to her feet, "I know… I.." She couldn't say much more, hell she was shocked that she was able to say this much without losing consciousness.

He looked over at her, hands in his pockets and an abruptly harsh look on his face, "A ninja needs to learn how to adapt to all conditions. If you can't go without food for a couple of hours, how would you survive on rations on a mission?"

Feeling cornered or scolded was one thing Kiyowa was not used to; in fact she squirmed under the pressure and had not realized until afterward that they had ceased walking all together. "I.." ..She wanted to say that she had just become a ninja, and did not know the ropes, or maybe explain that she was unsure of how to adapt to this particular condition, but every time she attempted to speak, she fell victim to the cold look in his dark eyes. She closed her eyes tightly, taking a few steps back and then abruptly shouting, "I'M SORRY!"

The Uchiha boy drew back, quirking a brow in confusion and shock. He had never heard her speak above a whisper or a light murmur. What was this? Did he cause it somehow? The shock soon gave way to a somewhat smug look. He was proud that he was able to turn her quiet, seemingly calm nature into a loud, retaliating one. Perhaps it was as if he was playing a game with himself, or having a sort of competition that he had established mentally in the moment. Either way, it brought out a sense of accomplishment for some reason or another.

After the adrenaline washed itself away, Kiyowa realized her actions and her words. She clammed up once again and glanced up in realization, faltering under the smirk held by the boy and turning quickly to walk away. She wasn't too sure what had gotten into her, but whatever it was, she wished it would not happen again.

_X ~ X * * * X ~ X _

A long elapse of four hours had passed since the entire team had gathered in the training grounds, and everyone seemed to be keeling over with hunger by now [Everyone except Sasuke it seemed].

Naruto was all argued out and sitting against a tree, arms folded and eyes fighting to stay open.

Sasuke leaned against a tree as well, arms folded and eyes closed with a stoic look on his face.

Sakura sat against one of the three posts in the center of the field, having dozed off long ago.

Last but not least, Kiyowa was standing at the base of a tree, looking up to a lower branch, trying to size up the climb. She threw her hands onto a nub that jut out from the trunk of the tree and put her hand on it, then scrambled her feet against the base in the most disorganized, frantic way until she had grabbed hold of the branch. She then grabbed the top of the branch that stuck out the most from the rest of the tree and rotated herself around so that her soles could be placed on the tree. Once again, she scrambled her feet frantically against the trunk until she was laying stomach down on the branch, limbs hanging off. Finally, she had the least bit of comfort. She had a hard time sleeping on the ground, but somehow, a tree was preferable.

It wasn't a few minutes of chorused stomach growls and exchanged snores that Kakashi appeared, squatting on a branch just atop Kiyowa's, "Sorry I'm late." He chimed.

"KYAH!" The poor blonde haired girl lost her grip and was sent tumbling from the branch and onto the ground about three feet below.

"S-SENSEI! You said you would be here hours ago!" Kiyowa said. It was somewhat amusing that she attempted to scold him with such 'beyond-soft' vocals.

"OI! She's Right! You're four hours late, Dattebayo!" Naruto accused, pointing a finger at the silver haired Jounin, who seemed to be shaking his head.

"No no no, I believe you misunderstood. I told you three to be here by 7am. I never said that I would be here by 7am."

"SCUMBAG-SENSEI!" Naruto shouted through cupped hands.

A vein bulged from Sakura's forehead, showing just how discontent she was with not only Kakashi's tardiness, but with Naruto's shouting. One could only imagine how short her fuse was without or sleep food to stretch it out some, and so Kiyowa decided it was time for her to mouse-down and let this transform into an A-B-C conversation.

"NARUTO-BAKA, IF YOU DON'T QUIET DOWN, I'LL-"

"Calm down, Sakura," Kakashi urged, placing his hands defensively against his chest, palms out, "I think you should save your energy for training."

"W-Wait.. Kakashi-sensei… when's lunch?" Kiyowa asked meekly. Her arms were wound tightly around her abdomen and her legs were outspread behind her while she kneeled.

"Ah yes. That's an excellent question. About that…" Kakashi began.

**A/N: :D Okkay Dokehhh. Here's chapter 4. Hope you liked, and hope to get some reads and reviews cooking up here. *Punches the air* I've been getting pumped for this story, and I think it's about time I let you know why I chose such an unusual story topic.**

**Well. I'm a big fan of cliché stories that most writers try to avoid, and most readers find themselves unfortunately inching toward –after rolling their eyes and scrolling passed it a few times, of course-. It gives a sense of challenge when you have to try rearranging a story so that it's different from all of the others. For example:**

**In most stories of a character joining squad 7, they're usual a Sakura and Sasuke hater that catches his attention because they're so different. In this one, she's the same as the rest of the fangirls, and so it seems for now, a victim of Sasuke's smug comments. :'D Pretty damn entertaining to write.**

**Anywho~ Bye my loveliessss~ (\(^o^)**


	5. Chapter 5: Kakashi Sensei's Evaluation!

Chapter 5: Kakashi-sensei's evaluation! Test time!

**Disclaimer: :D I don't own Naruto! NOPE!**

"Ah yes. Excellent Question. About that…" Kakashi began.

"Eh…?" Kiyowa murmured.

This seemed to have caught everyone's attention, likely because they were near starving. Even Sasuke's head peeked up, eyes opening.

"That will come later in the explanation."

"Explanation..?" Sakura said to herself in a hush.

"Yes, Explanation. Today, I'll be giving you all my own examination."

Everyone's faces formed strong shock.

"Place your lunches over here," The male said, motioning to a stone that appeared to be fashioned from obsidian.

Everyone complied, although they all had their own scales of reluctance.

"In this examination," Kakashi reached into his pocket, pulling out and holding up two bells attached to a thin, red string. He lightly twitched his index finger and thumb upwards, causing the bells to gently clash and emit a faint ringing sound, "You'll have to retrieve one of these bells from me."

"And… What happens if we don't?" Naruto questioned.

He reached into a bag, pulling out an incredibly large and bulky form of a timer, then set it down on a stump, "Whomever cannot manage to take one of these bells from me before time's up, will be tied to one of those posts, and forced to watch everyone else eat their lunch, but go without theirs… Not only that, but those who fail.. will be sent back to the academy."

"WE WORKED HARD TO BE NINJA! YOU CAN'T JUST TAKE THAT AWAY FROM US, DATTEBAYO!" Naruto shouted, and while two of the other three teammates seemed to whole heartedly agree, Kiyowa wasn't worried about it, probably because she had zoned out before hearing that last part.

She paled. This was a nightmare! Her stomach was ravaging her body and eating just about everything inside of her -which wasn't much as it was-. How could she ever manage to get anything done with her hunger plaguing her? Even if she weren't dying of starvation, she would be unsure of just how or if she could get one of those bells. Of course she expected this Jounin to take it easy on them, afterall, how would they snag one of the bells if he went all out? Even so, to even think of having to go without lunch while surrounded by the mouth watering aroma of food was unimaginably painful. She would have to get one, no matter what it took. Then, something was brought to everyone's attention.

"There's only two bells."

This comment came from Sakura who had remained quiet while the sensei spoke, but she raised a valid point. One that worried Kiyowa to no end, that Kakashi seemed to enjoy pointing out.

"That's true."

Sasuke spoke up this time, saying the sentence that sparked a gut wrenching pang in the poor flaxen girl's stomach, "That means at least two of us will most definitely be tied to the posts."

"That's right. Looks like we've got a thinker on our hands," Kakashi said in an almost sing song tone. In Kiyowa's eyes it made him come off as harsh. What kind of sensei would make his students suffer through this kind of training?

"Well, if we're ready. Begin."

The words had brought Kiyowa back into reality a little late it seemed, for her teammates had already dashed away seconds before and she was left staring into the intimidating 'eye' of her sensei.

"Umm.. H..Hi there.. I'll just.." She backed away and in a blur-like flash, she was gone in an unknown direction.

'_Hmm.. Seems like they have the hiding part down,'_ Kakashi thought to himself. While the true actions of his face were concealed, Kakashi seemed to carry a devious sort of aura now. It was time to have fun.

…Or at least he thought.

While originally, Kakashi had figured he would be hunting down the students and causing them a little (fun) trouble along the way, he was, much to his shock, confronted with a blonde haired boy with whiskers and an orange jumpsuit. He was in denial. That, Kakashi was. In denial of just how much common sense Naruto Uzumaki seemed to be lacking.

Kiyowa watched from the bushes and higher tree branches that covered the land that was elevated above the land in which Naruto and Kakashi stood off on. Somehow she knew that her teammates were near. She was not sure exactly how, but it was as if she could feel them close. So it seemed they were all watching the unfolding spectacle. As soon as she saw Kakashi reach into his pocket, however, Kiyowa turned away and began to run in the opposite direction. She was a girl that liked to come up with plans rather than dive right in like her teammate, Naruto, and so she wished to find a safer place where she could brainstorm on her own.

Eventually, the Shinzo girl found a dip in the land that was placed in what seemed like a wall of earth. She knocked against it and hummed, thinking. It felt like it wouldn't be able to hold up against even a soft blow, and so she could only assume it was hollow beyond. After pulling her sleeve back to around her elbow, Kiyowa threw a punch, with admittedly not much strength, yet it seemed to be plenty enough to shatter the dirt clods that were caked in around the hollow of the wall. She climbed inside, making herself small and folding her arms. It was a tight squeeze, but it would also be difficult to locate, even for a Jounin.

From her standpoint, there seemed to be a lot of ways one could go about this, but that said, none of those ways seemed to be effective. A Head on attack would fail, as not even the best genin would ever have the strength a Jounin carried. Speed? Another thing a Jounin would beat a Genin with. Brains and Experience, another point for the Jounin. Maybe setting a trap would work, but then again, how would she be able to set a widespread trap with a Jounin covering so much ground while looking for her other teammates?

"Aghh! This is impossible to do alone!" She shouted. It echoed through the small cavern, and unknowingly to her, it also traveled outside into the clearing.

A masked face popped up, blocking the light that filtered into the small cavern. His one eye was shut, likely with a sign that the sensei was smiling, "Bingo!"

Squeaking in surprise, Kiyowa instinctively kicked her foot out. Apparently reflexes were difficult to predict, because she succeeded into making contact with his face, and she could feel a cracking somewhere in what felt like his nose. Unfortunately, Kiyowa was not the type who could chalk this up as a victory, and so her face contorted into that of terror and concern, "Oh my Gosh, are you okay?"

Kakashi shook his head, still seeming amused as he took a step back, "A better question is.. Are you?"

"W..Wha.?"

Instinct sent the young girl's eyes traveling down. Insects of all different shapes and sizes were beginning to fill in over her body to the point where even the limited light could not be shed on any part of her skin. She was nearly completely sinking in them.

A sharp, high pitched, piercing scream sounded from the cavern that was so loud in fact, that the sound spread out for what seemed like a mile.

"Well that was pleasant," Kakashi said to himself in a nonchalant tone, taking his pinky and wiggling it around in his ear to make sure he wasn't deaf.

A blur of the blonde haired girl whizzed from the cave and into the forest, but the screaming never ceased, "GET THEM OFFFFFFFFFFFF!"

"Wh..What was that?" Naruto questioned, glancing up at the sky from his predicament; In other words, his dangling about upside down by a rope around his ankle.

Sakura did the same… or at least she would have had she not been screaming her own head off.

Sasuke, with his head partially poking out from the ground, thanks to Kakashi's special earth-style jutsu, was beginning to lose all faith in women at the moment. Hearing the two screams coexisting and having no free hands to cover his ears were the cause of this, and likely the cause of an aneurysm too.

After finally running awhile longer, Kiyowa collapsed on the ground, mind turned to mush by her frightening experience. She curled up, shivering while her arms locked around her bent legs. "Crr…Cr..Creepy and..C..Crawly and.. " She gulped, her mind processing as if the bugs still inched their way around her arms, legs, neck, and chest.

**A/N: :D Hey everyoneeee. Sorry about the late update, been in school. *Throws Apology Pie* Anywho. Hope you liked Chapter 5555555. :D **


	6. Chapter 6: Failure? Light Shed On The

Chapter 6: FAILURE!? Light shed on The Past.

**Disclaimer: ;n; I don't own Naruto, Yadda Yadda Yadda. Blah.**

The team was now reunited at the clearing of the training grounds. It seemed Kiyowa was far from being the only one that had a hard time. Sakura seemed to be a little frightened, as she retained a distant look in her eyes. Sasuke seemed to carry his usual, calm attitude as usual, but the scrapes and bruises along his body told a different story. Naruto? Well.. He seemed fine physically, but he was tied to a post for a currently undetermined reason. Kiyowa, well, she seemed mentally scarred. She murmured softly incoherent words while shivering and running her hands over her arms, "B-B-B-B-B.." From the way the "b" was pronounced, it seemed as though she wanted to say "Bugs", but she never got any further than the B sound.

"Well… You didn't manage to take these bells from me," Kakashi began. He turned his back to the squad of students and hummed a light, vibrating sound through his lips, "But I've changed my mind about sending you back to the Academy."

Sakura, Naruto, and Sasuke all perked up, halfway with curiosity and the rest of the way with mild excitement.

"We passed..?" Sakura said to herself. She seemed to be in complete disbelief, "..Wow.. Ha..Haha.. All I did was faint.."

Kiyowa, who had gathered herself from her traumatic shock, carried a heavy suspicion. It just didn't seem right. They didn't do anything particularly amazing from what she had seen and/or heard, and to be quite frank, it seemed like the whole attempt was a complete mess.. What would change his mind..?

Her suspicions were confirmed.

"I never said I was passing you."

"E-Eh?" Sakura audibly stammered, riddled with newfound confusion, "B..But you said."

"I said I changed my mind about sending you back to the academy," The male turned around with the most frightening, and intimidating look on his…eye, " Instead… I'm having the four of you permanently removed from the program!"

"Y..You can't do that!" Naruto shouted, kicking his feet and flailing his bound body to the best of his abilities.

"Not only can I, but I am. Do you even understand the point in this examination?"

"..To get the bells.? T..To prove we can be ninjas?" Naruto offered.

Kiyowa's mind began to drift away from the lecturing Jounin and to a slimy, wriggling slug on the ground. She scoot over slowly and kept a close eye on it, not even noticing that she had tuned out the words of Kakashi and her teammates until a rubber soled shoe crushed the thing, splattering slime everywhere.

That's what made Kiyowa tune in. Her eyes snapped up to see Sasuke stomach down on the ground with Kakashi seated atop him on his back, "That's the problem. You haven't even realized that TEAMWORK is the whole POINT of this test. No, it's the point of EVERY test you've taken this far. Why do you think they would bother to put you in squads of three? You think it's all fun and games. I could say.. Sakura."

Sakura jumped, cringing at the mention of her name and looked over to Kakashi.

"Kiyowa."

Kiyowa flinched slightly as well, looking toward Kakashi just as Sakura had.

"Kill Naruto now…or Sasuke dies."

Kiyowa's eyes widened and she seemed to be frozen in place. Sakura did the same, looking unsettlingly back and forward toward Naruto and Sasuke.

"Then what would you do," Kakashi inquired. One could see Sasuke was far from amused underneath Kakashi. His face was buried in the grass, but it couldn't hide the intense scowl that was flaring up on his face. Kakashi finally let him up, much to everyone's relief. Kiyowa had a strong feeling Kakashi wouldn't actually do something like that. Just a feeling, but the idea of something like that happening for real… it gave her a shivery, numb feeling branching from the center of her chest to the rest of her body.

She watched Sasuke get up, just to be sure he was alright, then slowly turned her attention over to Kakashi to see just where he had gone. He stood next to a dark stone. It was the same one that they had placed their lunches by –which somehow were no longer there. (He must have moved them)- that had an obsidian look to it.

Naruto and the others reeled their heads around, trying to examine the stone and deduce the reason for Kakashi's faraway look toward it.

"Hey.. What is that..?" Naruto questioned, having to lean forward against the ropes to even see it.

"This is the stone.. that holds the names of some of the greatest shinobis that ever lived. The names of some of my closest friends are engraved here on this rock," Kakashi replied.

Kiyowa stood up. Something about that stone was intriguing her, or maybe that was the wrong word, it was pulling her toward it, attracting her like the opposite bars of a magnet.

"WOW! I WANT MY NAME TO BE THERE TOO DATTEBAYO!" He shouted excitedly.

Kiyowa by now was a few feet away from Kakashi, staring at the stone intensely.

"..." Kakashi turned his head to face Naruto specifically, "They're all… K-I-A."

Gasps.

"I know this stone," Kiyowa said quietly, but loud enough to catch her teammates and Sensei's attention. She touched the top of the stone then circled around it, scanning her eyes over every letter of every name that lay engraved in the deep obsidian layers of stone. She stopped at one corner and reached out her hand, placing from the center of her palm up to the middle of her fingers over one part of it. Her index traced of something, then her other hand ran over another spot nearby.

"…What is it, Kiyowa?" Naruto asked hesitantly. He was reluctant in his questioning, wishing the guess in his mind was wrong somehow.

"My mom and dad are on here."

Sakura and Naruto's jaws dropped.

Kiyowa looked up, seeing the sympathetic looks they passed her and shook her head, sweatdropping, "W..Wait. It's okay though. I mean.." She looked down to her feet, trying to bring in a few driblets of confidence before she continued. Somehow it seemed no matter what words she fumbled with mentally, she couldn't find the right ones. Then again, who would be able to string along the right words for this sort of occasion? She then lifted her head up and wore a partial smile, "It.. wasn't long after I was born… I don't really remember them." Her hands were palm forward, inches from her chest in what one could describe as a defensive manner.

There was a silence, yet instead of being awkward or uncomfortable, it seemed most likely to be one that was just necessary to be there.

"Kakashi-sensei," Naruto spoke up. The others turned to face their blonde haired companion. He seemed to be speaking with a strange new voice that actually carried quite a lot of wisdom, and strength, even considered to be an air of confidence beyond his years, "Let us have another chance. We'll use Teamwork this time. Besides.. How can we make everyone's dreams come true, if we fail here..?" He was looking at Kiyowa as he said this, and her lips parted slightly as if they were close to falling ajar.

"_Dreams for the future… Well. I haven't thought much about it…" She looked down in her lap while speaking her next words, lips trembling with nervousness and feet fidgeting together as if she were terrified of being judged by her peers, "but if I have to… I want to be a great ninja…so that I can make my mother and father proud of me."_

The blonde haired female blinked a few times, clearing the daze that had overtaken her, and once again she got a feeling. It was a feeling that maybe Naruto and she had just shared a memory. The same memory. Not only that, but she started to feel a bubbling confidence inside of her that she could compare to his own. Had he given this to her somehow? It did make sense… his determination and strong positive attitude… they were contagious.

The silver haired Jounin looked at his young pupils with a blank look at first, but his eye then closed slightly, and he gave what they assumed to be a smile, "Alright fine.." Within moments, the man was distributing lunches, "Everyone gets their lunch…except Naruto."

"EH. WHAT!?" Naruto shouted out, flailing against his restrictions once again, "WHY DON'T I GET LUNCH!?"

"Because. You tried to cheat and eat yours during the examination."

"Aw.." Naruto hung his head in shame, his stomach barking curses at him in the form of heavy growls.

"No one is to feed Naruto. If someone does, they will be failed," Kakashi warned, glancing over the four with a sinister look, almost as if he wished for one of them to defy him just so he could make an example out of them.

With that, the male had disappeared under the heavy cover of smoke.

Kiyowa shivered. He seemed terrifying, much more than she ever expected him to be after meeting him for the first time. She lifted the top from her box, revealing a meal that she cooked herself. Her stomach thrashed to jump out and eat the food, and she knew it was. She had been waiting for this for over four hours!

**A/N: :D Hey! Chapter 6 is now Up and launched! I really hope you liked it and now I will dance a jig of joy for another completed chapter! \(o3o\) \(o3o)/ (/o3o)/ YEAHHH.**


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